Infection
by Infstoj
Summary: General Ruse and his squad is the only attacker against the growing sickness that turns it victims into savage drones. They must destroy this infection before it controls the galaxy, but Heaven, Hell, and everything else stands in the squad's way.
1. Prologue

The young Elite stood before his community's leader,

"_For the crimes you've committed, you are hear by banished!_" proclaimed the leader in his alien tongue. The word kept ringing in the young elite's head "Banished, banished, banished…"

"_I_ _said be gone, now leave vermin!_" roared the leader, his voice echoed in the silent court room. Two Honor guards came in the futuristic court room in case there was any trouble.

The young elite stood there before saying very faintly "_No one tells Ungata what to do._"

Ungata pulled a Plasma Rifle from his side and shot at the community leader, it missed sending a sizzling scorch mark into the wall behind him.

Panic ensued, all the aliens in the court room ran for exit and over top all the screaming you still heard the "pichhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" of the honor guard flipping their energy swords on.

Ungata ran and kept running till he was far from his community. But he still ran, the only thing that kept him going was him telling himself over and over again "I am stronger then them, better then them, more powerful then them. I will join and become a leader of a powerful race. I will show them, I will make history!"

And guess what? He did.


	2. Mission 1: Construct Part 1

"Where the hell is lime!?" yelled the blue and white spartan. His information tag addressed him as Lay, a 'close combat' major. His Rogue helmet showed no emotion but you could tell by his voice that he was angry.

"Probably dead, the lucky bastard." replied Watt. He was the 'sniper' major. Usually snipers stuck to a Scout helmet and dim colors. Watt was different. He was red and green and wore C.Q.B armor.

Watt unloaded a bullet into a zombie's head. "And this time stay dead." Watt yelled to no one in particular.

He slammed his weight against their barricade. The zombies just wouldn't stop, and they had limited men.

"General Chez, you have to call the hornets in, the fire is too heavy!" exclaimed Ironwedge, the commander, in between fires from his battle rifle.

And it was true, the infected didn't stop shooting, and when they ran low on ammo, they would jump the barricade in a kamikaze like motion.

General Chez looked at the steel colored spartan if he could see right through Ironwedge's ODST helmet.

"We will not leave Lime and his crew behind. Do you understand!?"

The reply was of course "Yes, sir!"

"And what if they're dead, general?" The question was asked in a calm yet serious tone.

General Chez looked at the questioner, a yellow, blue, and red elite, the tusks of his ascetic helmet gleaming in the light.

Chez looked at his computer behind the barricade, "From these readings, it says they're still alive."

"Ah, don't listen to the finger painting over there." said the smirk peach and blue colored elite.

The elite was behind them going through a rack of explosives, they were his specialty. He was Dindin, the 'explosive' major.

"My colors might be odd, but I'm still your colonel, Din." replied the yellow elite.

"I've heard it before, Ruse." replied Dindin, through his assault helmet.

"Hurry up, chose a god damn weapon already!" Lay screamed to Dindin.

"But, I love them all." Dindin said cheerfully, "But I guess I'll choose this one."

He heaved a brute shot out of the rack, jogged up to the blockade, and merrily blasted away three zombies.

"I hate you." Watt muttered coldly.

"Just doin' ma job!" was the reply Watt got. If elite's could grin then Dindin would always be.

Footsteps were heard outside in the steel corridor, and a lime green spartan with pink shoulders skidded to a halt, his E.V.A helmet gleaming orange. Behind him were two more spartans. A pale blue and white spartan with all Mark VI armor named Glace and a quivering C.Q.B spartan named Rodrigez. Rodrigez was red, head to toe.

"Captain Lime, do you have the info? And where is Cooktop's squad? I told you to escort them!" blurted out Chez.

"I'm sorry general but even under your command, I'm not going to escort corpses" said Lime firmly

"Damn it! Another squad dead, but you have the info?" Chez asked

"Yes, the infection didn't even touch it, they don't think, they just kill..."

You could here the vengeance in Lime's voice.

"Good, bring it here…" Chez ordered "And who are the two soldiers behind you?"

"This is sergeant Glace…" said Lime while pointing to the pale blue spartan "And that is private Rodrigez." pointing to the twitching private

Lime handed the chip over to Chez and whispered "The private is pretty shakin' up about the war; I doubt he'll last long..."

Chez let the chip transfer on to his computer. He ordered Lime and his men into positions. "Lime you and your private come and help fight the zombies of the barricade, Glace go guard the opposite corridor"

Lime and Rodrigez hid behind the barricade, and Glace proceeded across the room to the other corridor, when a zombie jumped the barricade, land on Glace and slashed him down his torso with its energy sword.

It began a scream of victory but got pumped with lead.

They all stood there guns aimed at the motionless corpse of the zombie, Rodrigez scared stiff, was just crouched there, sitting, starring, horrified.

Lay's voice broke the silence, "The bastards dead"

For the first time Rodrigez talked, he looked at General Chez and said "Wh-wha-what do w-we do no-now"

Chez looked at him, his red Hayubasa helmet with its stern look, it scared Rodrigez.

"We fight to our doom", that sentence scared Rodrigez even more.

Chez's computer let out a noise, the transfer was complete. Chez pulled the chip out and said "Let's call in those hornets!"

"Finally." sighed Ironwedge

Chez picked up the radio and...BANG! a loud gun shot rang out...

The bullet drove through the metal of the helmet and through it's victim's skull.

Chez was dead before he hit the ground.

Everybody stopped shooting, the zombie's bullets were still pelting the wall and blockade, but no one noticed.

Rusejambon, the yellow elite, walked up to the corpse, the others followed, he did a signal with is four fingered hand to go back and commence shooting again and they did. Ruse shook Chez, breathing heavily, he let go of the corpse.

Lay was watching and broke the wordless silence by saying, very lightly "Shit."

Ruse picked up the radio, pressed the talk button, and began his distress call...


	3. Mission 2: Construct Part 2

The engines roared, the tapping of heavy boots on steel floors, a voice and the noise of tapping on glass. "Come on Major McCaw, let's go.", then the cackling of the radio."

A very stern but static voice came through. "We ne-eed EVAC, Gen-era-l Chez is dead I re-peat General Chez is de-ad, we need EVAC ASAP!" and the radio fizzled out.

McCaw woke from his slumber, straightened out his hornet's seat and heaved his brown and green armored body to the controls. He spoke through his Mark VI helmet. "I copy sendin' the hornets right away."

He then started up his hornet and was followed by two more; they left the hanger and proceeded on their rescue.

"WOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEE! This is fun!" Din screamed.

"Even in the heat of a battle, you make me smile, Din" Lime said cheerfully.

"I gotta shoot both of you on the spot." said Lay, shaking his head.

"Eh, leave one for me." Watt piped in.

Ruse looked at all of them, a very stern, soulless look. "Guys, quit the socializing and shoot the zombies, Chez is dead, this ain't time for chitchat."

All at once, they popped up and shot, basting away about five zombies. Rodrigez's bullets went everywhere doing little damage, while Ironwedge took two out with one burst from his battle rifle. Ironwedge had the best shot, and they all knew it.

A rocket flew over their heads.

"We've got launchers!" screamed Ironwedge, as another rocket flew over their heads.

Watt sighed "Ah, great first a scoper, then launchers, all we need now is a..."

"Waker!" Lay finished Watt's sentence with a scream. Sure enough there was a waker. A purple-blue lighting shield engulfed its body. Grasping its gravity hammer it walked towards the barricade. Luckily it moved slow, really slow. So they still had time to fight, but when he reached the barricade they were doomed.

Ruse's mind was pacing, he looked around franticly, he wasn't scared but he feared for his squad. Another rocket hit the back wall. Ruse's ears rang, he looked around quickly and everything was blurred. Then the idea stuck him. "Watt!" he ordered "Move back, and snipe out those launchers." It was a risky move because he was more vulnerable back there but it was their only chance.

Watt did what he was told.

"Dindin" Ruse ordered "Get the biggest explosive device you have and concentrate on that waker!"

"Lime, Lay, Iron, and Rodrigez clear out some of the swarm!"

"On it!" announced Ironwedge while lighting up a plasma grenade.

Now the battle was hellfire. They were all taking out certain parts of the infected army, but they kept coming and that waker wasn't even flinching.

There was a hovering noise like when an air conditioner turns on. All of a sudden a hornet flew up to the side of the long over hanging bridge.

That was a relief. But there was only one hornet, they needed at least three.

The pilot opened his cockpit's window and yelled "C'mon, we ran into trouble on the way here, and lost a hornet"

Ruse signaled an elite and two spartans to the hornet. "Where's McCaw?" questioned Ruse.

The pilot replied, "Like I said we ran into trouble, the zombies got hold of some banshees, McCaw was fighting them off when he told me to go on without him. He should be coming along soon."

"Fine." sighed Ruse "Rodrigez, you're next, hop aboard that hornet, Lime, you keep lookout at the end of the bridge."

"Aye-Aye!" said Lime. He followed Rodrigez out on to the bridge.

"Crap! We got more launchers!" Din screamed

A launcher fired a rocket which went over the barricade and exploded on the bridge, right at Lime's and Rodrigez's feet.

The two limp bodies went flying over the edge, twirling, twirling, twirling, gone.

Lay ran to the edge of the bridge. "Lime! Lime! Lime!" He hit the side of the bridge "Damn it Lime! Damn it!"

Ruse ran up to Lay, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and through him towards the hornet. "Get on the hornet!"

"No!" Lay cried, "I'm fighting!"

Ruse pushed him back to the hornet, "We don't need more deaths." He said this almost in a whisper. He then turned quickly and went back to the barricade.

The hornet took off and Lay went with it.

When Ruse returned to the barricade Dindin was worried, "There's too many of them." he said with no joy in his voice.

Ruse looked at the three soldiers left. They were all tired and awe struck.

Ruse nodded, "Your right Din, we just ne to wait for Mc..."

A loud screeching noise was heard and a hornet (one propeller in flames) slid across the bridge.

McCaw opened his cockpit, "Did someone call for a hornet?"

Ruse turned to Dindin and Ironwedge and jerked his head towards the hornet.

They got the signal and ran for the hornet, Ruse followed and pushed Watt towards the hornet with such force, he dropped his sniper. Ruse picked it up.

"Go now!" ordered Ruse

"But how are you gonna get outta here!?" asked McCaw

"Just go!"

"But..."

"Now!"

The propellers began to spin and the hornet started to hover.

Ruse zoomed in with the sniper, "This is for Chez." he murmured.

He pulled the trigger and the scoper fell with a thud.

McCaw's hornet was off the bridge, it was beginning to accelerate. Ruse ran, to the side of the bridge and jumped off. The elite hauled himself up from the hanging position he was in. "What a jump." Watt said, shaking his head in an impressed motion.

Even as the hornet flew away from the facility, you could hear the screams of zombies and the gravity hammer hitting the ground from the enraged waker.

A foot was rested on top of Chez's corpse. "So we finally meet, General." said a low, gruesome voice which was followed by evil laughing.

Ruse's Com. crackled inside his helmet and Lay's voice rang in. "So what do we do now, general?"


	4. Mission 3: Valhalla

The two hornets set down on a small beach which rose up into a grassy plain. In front of them was a giant metal structure. It had an opening that went down to the basement.

The eight passengers jumped off the sides of the hornets. The one in good condition left, But McCaw's needed repairs so he had to wait.

A spartan with the exact same colors as Lay came out of the structure's basement. He wore Mark VI armor.

"Well what do you know? Rusejambon!" said the spartan

He walked casually to the elite with his arms wide open.

"Jumper!" Ruse said with the first joy in his voice for a while. "How have you been?"

"Ah, same old, same old." Jumper replied. "Where's the general?"

"Well..." Ruse began "Apparently, you're looking at him."

"Wow, you really have moved up, I'm still just a major." Jumper said. He then cupped his mouth piece with his hand, jerked his thumb towards Lay and asked "Who's the clone?" in a very loud whisper.

"You're the clone! You look as useless as one!" Lay snarled

"I'm sorry if I'm breaking something up…" McCaw broke in "But, ah could you, uh get someone to fix up my, uh hornet, here?"

"Yeah sure" Jumper then yelled down to the basement "We need maintenance!"

An elite and a spartan ran out and started working on the hornet.

When they were done McCaw tried the hornet. "Works like a charm." he said

"Oh yeah, by the way..." Jumper began "Lookey what we found!"

He then ran up to a scorpion tank, parked beside the structure.

Jumper climbed on top of it and proceeded to show off.

Then there was a very faint sucking noise, and the scorpion burst in to flames, incinerating Jumper with it.

Ruse was shocked, but it was the second sound of an explosion that threw him out of the trance.

He turned to see the hornet that McCaw was in, bloom into a fiery flower.

He couldn't move, two of his best comrades, destroyed in seconds.

A gunnery sergeant came out of the structure. "In here!" he yelled

Ironwedge took the two elites and three spartans to the front of the structure to fight off the infection, while Lay, Dindin, Watt, and Ruse followed the sergeant into the basement.

"General!" the sergeant began "I'll explain the battle plan; your squad mates can go join Corporal Chipper over there." Ruse waved them off.

"And who might you be?" Ruse asked. "I am Gunnery Sergeant Cabbage." he replied. Cabbage started to explain the plan. Ruse listened attentively.

On the other side of the basement Lay, Watt and Dindin talked with the corporal.

"Hi, you guys must be the majors of Alpha Squad." The Corporal said

"Commanders…" Lay replied "We've been promoted."

"Lucky, I'm still at the bottom of the ladder; by the way I'm Corporal Birch"

Birch wore all Mark VI armor, colored a dull cream and beige.

"Me and Cabbage over there have been instructed to escort you safely." he said.

"Oh, we don't need escorts, but we will be happy to escort you." Lay replied

"I'm sorry commander, but I'm just following orders." Birch said regretfully

"Well, guess what you're following our orders now, Birch." Lay growled, his visor just centimeters from Birch's.

Watt and Dindin snickered behind Lay.

"Men form up..." Ruse announced "Here's the plan we're making a convoy, all we have is a warthog, a mongoose and two ghosts."

Ironwedge walked into the basement, "Their dead." he announced.

"The zombies?" Cabbage asked.

"Yup, and the men you sent up with me, but don't worry you'll probably be there with them soon, and your friend too." Ironwedge replied and motioned to Birch.

"Anyways, our destination is a building similar to this one across this gully. We have information that there's a teleporter there that can get us out of this hellhole, and return to a UNSC base." Ruse continued, "I will be driving the warthog at the front of the convoy..."

"What!" Cabbage interrupted "We didn't agree to this!"

"I don't need to agree to anything with you, Sergeant." Ruse replied softly

"No! I am escorting you and I will not let you drive in that leading warthog!" he screamed.

***

The warthog cleared the gap over the river and landed with a loud thud on the adjacent piece of land.

"I love driving." Lay said

"Yeah, well I love finding loop holes." Ruse said in the warthog's passenger seat.

Cabbage scowled, he was in the machine gun turret of the warthog.

Behind them Ironwedge drove the mongoose with Dindin on the back with a rocket launcher. Behind them was Watt and Birch in the two ghosts.

The convoy came to a halt on the peak of a hill. The building was in sight, a clear path, but it seemed too easy. To the right, a cliff with the river at the bottom, to the left, an indent in the gully's side, with a crashed pelican. Ruse studied the pelican.

Cabbage noticed Ruse's examination and said "Flight 756."

"What?"

"Crashed two weeks ago, a small group from Base 1 came to investigate it…" He paused "When I arrived it was on fire, corpses were scattered all around the crash sight, there were two survivors, but we were too late, one had a seizure and died on arrival the other one crawled out of the wreckage, his legs were crushed. He whispered 'Help me'. His armor then turned black and pale green he started screeching, a zombie got him. I shut my eyes pulled out my magnum and fired at him, killing him instantly…" He paused again "The zombies infected the rest of the corpses and then proceeded to attack Base 2, the one were heading for."

"So, you're saying it's an up hill fight?" Ruse questioned

"Yup, and be warned this gully is infested with zombies, there are so many hiding spots, you don't see them but they sure as hell see you."

"Well then we should keep moving."

The convoy started again slowly. They proceeded down the hill; they were in enemy territory now.

There was a crushing sound; they turned to witness a zombie clawing the top of Birch's ghost. Birch drove the ghost in circles firing the plasma cannons on the front of it, another zombie jumped down from a tree onto the back of the ghost, there were now zombies surrounding the convoy, everyone human, alien and zombie open fired.

The zombie on the back of Birch's ghost grabbed him and threw him off, his limp body hit a boulder and he lay there unconscious. The zombies then drove the ghost into Birch's unconscious body crushing and killing him in a plasmid explosion of purple and blue fire.

The two zombies emerged from the ghost's wreckage screaming. Dindin immediately fired a rocket into the smoke, exploding the two zombies and Birch's corpse.

Across form the wreckage a zombie ripped the front plating of Watt's ghost off and clawed its way up to the cockpit. Watt pulled his mauler from the ghost's weapon holder and blew the zombie's head off while yelling "Go back to where you belong douche bag!"

"Go!" barked Cabbage, "We can fight these damn things 'til the sun goes down and we'll still be out numbered! So just drive!"

Lay smashed the acceleration pedal with his foot and the convoy was off at full speed. A zombie jumped in front of the warthog just to be exploded into chunks. He was ripped in two and his torso was shredded in the warthog's grill. His green oozing blood splattered across the windshield and Lay let out a hardy laugh.

"This squad is ruthless." Cabbage remarked

Ironwedge came in over the helmet com and said cheerfully "And that's why we're the best."

The convoy came to a halt at the building's side.

"Last stop, everybody out!" Dindin announced.

"Shhhhhh, this building is a zombie haven, were screwed if they find out were here." Cabbage whispered

Something hit Lay on the top of his head.

"So do you think they know were here?" asked Watt

Lay was hit on the head again. "Quit it." he ordered

No one was listening to Lay. He turned around and looked up at the wall behind him.

"I don't think they know were here yet." Cabbage replied

"Oh yes they do..." Lay interrupted.

There clinging to the wall, about 25 feet above them was a spartan, his armor was black and a heavy amount drool was dripping out of his helmet.

He lunged landing in the middle of them and started screeching a high pitched screech, it was deafening, they couldn't move, it was so painful.

The zombie stopped and jumped at Cabbage and loud blast went off. The zombie landed with a thud. Smoke rose from the barrel of Ruse's shotgun. "Let's move!" he ordered.

The group of soldiers moved to the main floor of the building, it had no roof. Zombies were climbing the walls on the outside and jumping from the tower down on to the main floor.

"The teleporter is in the basement." Cabbage said.

Ruse looked at Watt and Ironwedge "You two clear out the basement."

Cabbage looked at Ruse "We must hurry."

"I know." Ruse replied

Lay pulled out two magnums and was blasting away the zombies; Dindin had a flamethrower and was just spurting flames everywhere. Ruse had his shotgun and Cabbage had an assault rifle.

A zombie snuck up behind Dindin, Ruse ran up to it and snapped its neck. While Ruse was vulnerable another zombie hit him in the back of the leg with a spiker.

Ruse crumbled and let out an elite cry. The zombie stood over Ruse with its spiker, but then Lay jumped Ruse's gimp body, smashed his magnum's barrels through the zombie's helmet visor and fired. Two holes appeared in the back of the zombie's helmet, draining all the green liquid in its head out of the holes.

Lay then picked Ruse up and carried him into the basement; Cabbage followed shooting down the pressing zombies. Dindin then went into the basement lighting the door way on fire behind him.

Watt ran up to Lay "All clear." he announced.

"Good, now...Lets get the hell out of here!" He screamed.

Loud footsteps were heard, a dark figure came into view through the flaming entrance. "Go!" Lay screamed.

Watt and Ironwedge went through the teleporter.

An infected elite walked through the flaming doorway as if the flames weren't there. He ignited his energy sword, and let out an elite battle cry.

"Go!" Screamed Cabbage "I'll fight him off, just save the general!"

"No, were all coming out alive." Lay hollered

"My mission was to escort you to safety, not to live so go!" Cabbage pointed his assault rifle at Lay, Dindin and Ruse "Now!"

Lay and Dindin looked at each other and then sighed, "Fine." Lay sighed, he grabbed Ruse's arm and Dindin grabbed the other and they pulled him through the teleporter.

Cabbage turned to the elite, "Just you and me now bitch." He whispered.

The elite let out another cry, and charged.

Cabbage pulled the pin out of a frag grenade and threw it at his feet.

The frag exploded, collapsing the floor above him, and burying him, the zombie and the teleporter in a giant pile of rubble.


	5. Mission 4: The Pit

The humming stopped. Lay and Dindin pulled Ruse's limp body out of the teleporter

Lay looked around, "Where the hell are we?"

"Damn if I know..." Din replied.

Suddenly Watt appeared. "Were some lucky SOBs aren't we?"

Lay looked at him. "Why?"

"We teleported into a base..."

"No shit! We knew that from the start of the mission." Lay replied.

"I know, I know…" Watt stuttered "But this base has a medical bay for Ruse, and Ironwedge has taken command of the base, also they haven't spotted a zombie around this base for ages, so I think were safe here."

Din replied before Lay could, "Shut up, man! You're going to jinx us..."

The intercom came on. Ironwedge spoke, "Alpha Squad, come to the command center immediately, there's..." he exhaled "there's something on the radar."

The three looked at each other.

"Shit!"

"Oh, C'mon!"

"God Damn it!"

Watt looked at them. "Well, I better go. I'll meet you two at command." he began to walk away but stopped. "Is he conscious?"

Lay looked down at Ruse, "No, I don't think so."

Ruse mumbled something then vomited.

Lay grabbed Ruse's head and lifted up, "C'mon, don't give in, c'mon." he whispered.

Din looked at Lay, "He'll be fine, trust me."

Lay looked at Ruse, "I know, I know." he sighed.

The two then lifted Ruse up and carried his limp body down the dark hallway leaving a small trail of blood behind them.

He felt his torso, but felt nothing. He looked at his hands and they were stained with blood. A dark figure with a fiery blue heart stood over him and he began to fall. He fell faster and faster. The sun was bright and the wind was so powerful he couldn't open his eyes. Sand hit his face with such force it stung. It was a joyous yet terrible feeling but it didn't matter because it would all be over soon.

Ruse woke up screaming. He was in a steel room. It was clean, too clean. He tried to get out of his cot but he couldn't move his leg.

A spartan walked in, "I see, or heard you woke up." He chuckled. He was gray and white and wearing E.O.D armor.

Ruse looked at him. "Not to be rude, but who the hell are you and where the hell am I?"

The spartan chuckled, "I see the anesthetic makes you fussy" he chuckled again "I'm and I'm the one who stitched your leg up."

Ruse looked at his leg, "What happened to my leg?"

Silvercloud chuckled "Oh, you had a severe laceration on the back of your knee, you'll be unable to move for a while but in a couple hours you should be up and running like normal." he chuckled again, "Oh, yes I also found a parasitic substance in your wound, it was infecting your tissue cells, it might have came off of the blade of your attacker's weapon, sort of like an arrow dipped in poison."

Ruse swayed his head back and forth and fell back into his cot, "Where are my friends... I mean my squad?"

The doctor chuckled, "Oh, you have a very loyal squad, they carried you here. They were called to the command center, something about the radar, maybe?"

Ruse froze, "Zombies..." he hissed, he stared into nothing while he said it.

Silvercloud looked at him, and chuckled, "There's the anesthetic talking." he chuckled again, "No, infected specimens have been seen around this base for quite some, I think we're safe." He began to chuckle but was cut off by Ruse.

"No, there are zombies in this base and I know it, and no matter how hard or how many times you chuckle, they ain't going away!" The anesthetic had fully worn off now.

They stared at each other for a few seconds when the sounds of gun shots broke their gaze.

Suddenly, green claws ripped between the steel doors and began pushing them apart.

Silvercloud reached for his magnum under his desk, and whispered "Oh god..."

The zombie now had enough room to fit his arms in.

Ruse tried to stand up but fell off his cot. He began to crawl towards the doctor. He was terrified, but he didn't show it. He was defenseless and injured. It was his worst nightmare.

The zombie could now fit his head and torso in through the doors, in a few more seconds he would have the doors into their locked positions and a clear attack on the doctor and Ruse.

Ruse looked at the doctor then at the magnum, "Shoot!" he screamed, but Silvercloud just stood there, petrified.

There was a snapping sound and the zombie hit the ground with a thud. The steel doors then slammed shut cutting the zombie in two at the waist.

The doors opened and Lay walked in, he looked at the zombies corpse, kicked its head and said "To bad you had to split..." he then looked at Ruse and Silvercloud and said "Hey, how you feeling dumbass?"

Ruse snorted and shook his head, "Fine, you?"

"Oh, same old, same old, killin' zombies, savin' your sorry ass, killin' some more zombies."

The doctor fell back into his chair, "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

"Fear, maybe?" Ruse said sarcastically

Lay looked at Silvercloud's magnum, and started yelling, "There aren't even any bullets in that gun! Even if you did shoot nothin' would'a happened! If you didn't shoot you would'a still died! Either way without me you guys were fucked!"

"Calm down." Ruse said quietly.

Ironwedge came into the medical bay. "Doctor, Lay, Ruse" He nodded after saying each name, "Uh, General, I was checking the radio trackers we planted on the last two missions and uh, it seems that we uh, might have left someone behind, on the metal structure. You know the one where we lost General Chez."

Ruse looked at him, "But we were the last survivors off of that structure."

"Well it seems we added one to many to our death toll."


	6. Mission 5: Construct Part 3

The hornet touched down on the steel floor and Ruse, Ironwedge and Lay jumped off.

"Listen, I want this to be short and sweet, we go in find the survivor and get out, got it?"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" Ironwedge replied.

Lay looked at him, "Quit that shit."

"Yeah, I don't put my life before any of my men's and I don't consider my self anymore important either." Ruse added.

Gunshots were heard, "I think we found our survivor."

They turned a corner to see a spartan huddled into a crouching position, holding his assault rifle close to his chest, there were a few zombie corpses surrounding him and green ooze everywhere. There was a motionless spartan body behind the huddled spartan. The spartan turned to them and pointed his gun at them, he then paused, lowered it and began to sob.

Ruse walked over to the Spartan, crouched next to him and quietly said "Rodrigez?"

The spartan looked up and handed Ruse some I.D tags, "Lime told me to give you these before..." He shook a little, "Before he died."

Ruse looked at the motionless body of Lime. His green and pink armor had faded, with dried blood leaking out of the cracks. His visor was cracked and he was also missing a foot.

Rodrigez looked at the corpse and said "They took it while I slept, his foot, I woke up and they ran." He whimpered, "I was so close to killing myself, but Lime saved my life when my squad was attacked so I decided to protect him...even though he was gone."

Ruse stood up, "C'mon were leaving here."

Rodrigez looked up and said "Wh...What about Lime?"

Ruse said softly, "He's gone now, I'm sorry, but we can't transport his body, he was a brave soldier and he died in honor."

Rodrigez bent down and put his hand on Lime's chest and whispered "Thank you. You saved my life, but I couldn't save you..." He inhaled, "I'm sorry, but I'll avenge you. I'll never forget you and what you did for me, goodbye Captain, it was an honor."

He stood back up; Ruse was on the radio talking with UNSC Head Quarters. "Yes, we have the private, err should I say newly promoted Sergeant Rodrigez, requesting a ride for him back to HQ; he's been through a lot."

"Roger that! Oh! And general, would your Squad be willing to scout out a recently discovered area? We have gotten Intel that it might serve as a good base setup. But we need it to be scouted."

"Yes, we'll accept just send a hornet to Base 427 to pick up Commander Watt and Commander Dindin to meet us at the rally." Ruse replied

"Roger, over and out."

A zombie scream echoed in the empty metal structure. Ruse, looked at the rest of them, "Ok, men, let's get out of here."


	7. Mission 6: High Ground

The hornets flew into the bright horizon.

"I've always liked beaches" Din said while letting sand sift through his hands.

The five members of alpha squad were at the base of a hill. It was a sandy beach; there was a small ledge along the rock cliff and boulders along the ground next to it on their right side. There was some light brush and broken walls scattered throughout the area. At the top of the hill there was a bunker and then fortress-like building. Its main gates were shut, but the hole in the bunker's side was going to provide them entrance.

Watt looked at the ledge, "I found my resting spot!" he chuckled and began to sprint for the ledge.

"Wait!" Ruse ordered. He looked at the five of them, Lay, Din, Ironwedge and Watt. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this place, so I want you to think about this. Why do think the UNSC would put a General, a Colonel, and three Commanders in a squad?" Lay began to respond but Ruse continued. "You guys should be commanding your own squads. Now, the reason they put us five in one squad is because, we are some of the best in the UNSC. When the shit hits the fan, they send in Alpha Squad. General Chez, hand picked us as his squad, now your my squad and the UNSC didn't split us up because we get the job done. We do the suicide missions, we do the rescue missions and we're gonna go into this mission as Alpha Squad and come out of this mission as Alpha Squad. All five of us! Understood?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Yup!"

"All The Way!"

"Let's kick some ass!"

Ruse stood tall "Now, I haven't been much of a leader so far, so I think that wasn't so bad for a motivational speech." He turned to Watt. "Now on to business, Watt take that ledge, you already claimed it, you're gonna cover us, no hesitation, if you see a zombie, blow its brains out!"

"Oh, yeah!" Watt grabbed the sniper off his back holster and loaded it.

"Rest of you, follow me." Ruse ordered.

They walked up the hill to the bunker. There were two choppers to the right of the bunker and a prowler next to the wall of the fortress where a pipe stuck out. They looked into the hole on the side of the bunker.

Lay let out a whistle, "Din, you never told us you were here before."

Din looked at the wall "I like exploding stuff, but I don't think even I could have done this..."

Ruse looked the wall over and then looked inside the shady bunker, "On second thought, if were dealing with stuff that can do this to solid concrete I want Lay to stay out here with Watt."

Lay smirked "Yeah, I'll protect the asshole."

There helmet com came on, "I can still here you!" Watt exclaimed.

"Well then I guess you heard I'm staying out here with you." Lay replied, "I kill anything that comes out and you just sit there nice and pretty make sure nothin' tries to butt rape me. Got it?"

"Oh, fuck you!" Watt hollered, "I'll snipe them before they even get in arms length of you. So just sit there and watch the show."

Ironwedge and Din snickered

Ruse sighed and shook his head, "Din, Iron, let's go..."

They entered the bunker; Lay stood outside and in a girly voice said "Goodbye! We'll miss you!"

Din flicked him the finger before they went around the corner.

They heard a gun shot, and their helmet com came on, "You missed you bastard!" Lay laughed.

"It's called a warning shot." Watt growled, "Next one's in your leg, then your head!"

Ruse spoke into the com, "Watt, Lay isn't worth wasting three bullets."

Watt laughed, Lay replied with "Oh, very funny you son of a..." Ruse turned his helmet com off. "I don't need to listen to them, they give me a headache."

"They need to grow up." Ironwedge spoke for the first time this mission.

"You need to lighten up." Din said while smacking Iron on the back of the head, "We're in the middle of a war. If having some fun means we don't kill each other or ourselves from stress then we need to fool around once in a while, tell a joke maybe. Right boss?"

Ruse shifted his head slightly, "Guess so, Din."

"I'm just saying were dealing with deadly weapons and fighting deadly...uh, things that wanna kill us!" Ironwedge argued

"I ain't saying your wrong; you just need to lighten up a bit. Here, tell us a joke!"

Ironwedge was getting angry, "OK!" He snarled. "Why did the zombies have a five-man feast?"

"Why?"

"Cause, Watt and Lay, were fuckin' around!"

"Aw, that ain't funny, man." Din said in disgust.

"But, it might be true." Ruse added

"Hey, we haven't seen any zombies yet!" Din replied cheerfully

"Yeah, are we gonna get any action here?" Iron asked. He was calm now.

"You saw what..._Something_ did to that wall. So were gonna find _Something_." Ruse answered.

Although they didn't realize it, they had stopped in a room at the beginning of the conversation and were standing there for a while.

"So where do we go now?" Din asked.

"Straight, I guess." Ruse said.

They kept walking until they ended up in a courtyard. There was a missile launcher in the center of it.

"What type of factory has a missile launcher in it?" Din asked while looking at it awe struck.

"I thought this was a fortress or army base." Iron added.

Ruse looked around, "Might be both..." He then saw a shadowed entrance at the back of the base, "Let's check that out, follow behind me."

They entered the room cautiously. A stench filled the room and the lungs of the soldiers.

Ironwedge covered his helmet vent, "Oh, god. You guys smell that?" He paused, "It smells like, oh god, shit."

"Oh, Ruse, how rude of you!" Din laughed

Ruse snarled, "Iron, please turn your helmet lights on..."

Two jets of light slightly illuminated the small room. Throughout the room (and only a few inches from them) were dozens of hunched black bundles. They breathed heavy breaths, and stirred a bit.

"And please turn you lights off." Ruse ended his sentence.

He motioned them out of the room. They backed out of the room and someone hit the light switch on the wall. The lights flickered on and the hunches became restless. One got up, an infected no doubt. A lanky zombie, he was skinny and a foot taller then the soldiers. His helmet only covered his face down to his top lip; his bottom jaw was completely visible. He opened his mouth to scream, it was full of rotting, blood stained teeth and a green snake-like tongue.

Ruse reacted quickly and shot the zombie in the face with his shotgun, killing him instantly. "Run!" He screamed.

Watt sat on the ledge, scratching drawings into the rock with his large robotic-like finger. "He talked into his helmet com, "Think this place is a dud?"

Lay replied, "Yeah, probably, but orders are orders so we get to sit here and wait until they come out, and say nothing was in there and that we wasted our time."

They suddenly heard a loud boom that sent vibrations through the area and shook their organs. Watt jumped up, "Maybe it's not a dud..."

"Maybe…"

"Oh! Yeah! Great idea Din! Run into the room with the waker!" Iron screamed while sprinting.

"How the heck would I have known that there was a waker in there?! At least we know what happened to the wall!" Din replied also while sprinting

"Just shut up and run!" Ruse roared.

They ran into a room and shut a steel door.

"That won't hold the waker." Iron said in between breaths.

Ruse looked around the room that they were in. There was some sort of pipe with an opening in it. "Quick, crawl into that pipe!" He ordered

They did and as they were told. They heard the scratching sounds of zombies at the door. Ruse turned on his helmet com, "Lay? You there?"

His voice came through, "What the hell was that shockwave?"

"A waker."

Now it was Watt's turn to join in, "Waker?!"

"Yes a waker..." Ruse sighed "Be on your guard! While we were running, zombies were jumping out of every nook and cranny, so this place is overflowin' with zombies; luckily none of them have firearms from what I saw. Just watch out." Ruse turned his com off.

The door wouldn't last much longer, Ruse looked around, he was sweating, he thought of this being the end. It couldn't be the end. Could it? He then noticed the room they were in. It was a storage room full of gas tanks. Ruse jumped out of the pipe grabbed a small propane tank and opened it he them made a trail of propane from a pile of gas tanks to inside the pipe.

He looked at the other two, "It's do or die time guys. Hand me your bullets and grenades."

They did as they were told and Ruse began to remove the gun powder from the ammunition, "Start moving further into the pipe."

They did. "Man, it stinks in here, oh what's this? Oh god! That's why it stinks!" Iron pushed aside a rotting corpse in the pipe.

"Aw, suck it up...and that's sick." Din said.

Ruse continued his trail of gunpowder until he ran out. "Iron, hand me a match."

"Will do!"

Ruse pulled out his emergency rope and they began crawling towards the opening of the tube. When he ran out of rope he lit the match and lit the rope on fire. They heard the sound of crushing steel and a zombie jumped into the pipe and began crawling after them.

"C'mon! Get out of here!" He screamed at Iron and Din. They jumped out of the pipe into area surrounding the entrance of the base.

Watt zoomed in for the shot, and then spoke into his com, "Lay! They're out! They got out!"

The pipe then shot out an explosion of flames like a volcano.

"Oh, shit" Watt whispered.

A prowler then sped out from behind a rock with Ironwedge, Dindin and Ruse on it. Ruse came in on the com "There are two choppers by the bunker; I highly suggest you guys get on them and leave now, were out of ammo so we got to go now!"

The gates of the fortress opened letting a flood of zombies out.

"Go, without us. We'll catch up." Watt answered.

"I don't feel right leaving you two here." Ruse confessed

"Its fine, you guys get going, you're out of ammo and we have plenty, we'll hold them off." Lay replied

Ruse sighed, "Fine, but here's our final gift." The prowler spun around and boosted toward the zombie horde. It ripped through them, impaling all the infected with its bumper spikes. They then tail-whipped around and sped off towards the ocean. Luckily with the advanced technology, the hovering prowler could "drive" on water.

As they sped away, Watt spoke into the com, "I don't know how you do it Rusejambon." He said cheerfully.

The wave of zombies flooded towards Lay. He pulled out his mauler and slit a zombie's throat as it ran at him; he then turned and crippled another's leg, with its powerful shot. A zombie came from behind him smacked him, resulting in Lay dropping his mauler. He then recovered, pulled his magnum out and put a bullet in between the eyes of his attacker.

Watt came in on the com, "They are now all focused on you. Your Mr. Popular!"

"Ha-ha, very fu...shit! I'm runnin' low on ammo! Wanna head for those choppers?" Lay asked

"Yeah, I'll cover you." Watt replied.

Lay hit a zombie in the head with the butt of his magnum, implanting the empty ammo cartridge in its skull. The zombie squealed as it died. Zombies dropped around him because of the constant firing of Watt's sniper. Shot after shot, zombies dropped.

Lay turned to signal Watt to the choppers only to see a large dark figure behind Watt. The thing was not a waker but still wielded a gravity hammer of some sort. Watt was completely unaware of this. The creature raised his weapon and brought it down on Watt's back, breaking his spine and neck instantly. If that did not kill him, the force from the blow threw him of the ledge sending him into several boulders, in which on impact would end in death.

Lay screamed, "Waaaaatttttt!" he then spun around and stuck an active grenade into the armor of a zombie. After that he kicked the zombie into the horde. The explosion killed many of the infected beings.

He then turned towards the choppers. There before him stood the creature with its hammer high above its head. Before Lay could react, the hammer had come down in a deadly arc.


End file.
